3 Reasons Why You Don’t Want Everyone To Love You

I’ll be the first to admit, when I started this blog, I had it in my head it would be a typical ‘lifestyle blog’ full of fashion trends, beauty tips and other stereotypical categories you find on lifestyle blogs (which is great by the way, I love reading all that these blogs have to offer, I just don’t think I could write about it well enough you know?). After a while, it dawned on me that I was only really interested in doing this because that’s what others were doing on their blogs and it felt like I had to follow these guidelines.

Thing is, I don’t actually care much about the latest fashion trends, or what makeup is currently the best on the market so what would be the point in trying to write about it? Other than the fact it would attract young, fashionable girls who love to read about fashion and makeup, I couldn’t think of any other reason to include this content. So what if the younger generation don’t read my blog? I wouldn’t really expect them to anyway, as they won’t relate to anything I’m talking about and are therefore not my target audience.

I’m a 31-year-old woman who spends most of her time wearing mens sweat pants and oversized jumpers and quite frankly in my eyes, I look like shit most of the time! So guess who I should be aiming my blog at? That’s right, equally unfashionable, slightly tired looking women like me– Sucks right? Oh well, we have far better things to talk about than fashion and makeup anyway.*

Whether you’re selling a product, creating an online course, or writing a blog like this one, you need to have in mind exactly who you are aiming at, and with this, you need to accept that not everyone is going to love what you are offering. It’s extremely difficult to appeal to lots of different people all at the same time, so narrow it down and focus on people like you– people who will relate and show genuine interest.

People-pleasing leads to doing things you don’t enjoy.

I can’t begin to tell you how important this is. The number of times I’ve tried to please everyone and failed miserably because I haven’t been passionate enough about what it is I’m doing. Back when I first started my photography business, I wanted to shoot all that I could because it made me feel busy and successful, but in actual fact, I just ended up photographing things that didn’t interest me. It wasn’t until I found my niche in Fine art film photography, that I really began to love my work. The clients I started to attract were completely different to previous clients as they one-hundred-percent got what I did. Now, my clients do not ask me to recreate silly poses or shoot with flash because they know this is not how I work or what I do best. This has resulted in me feeling a lot happier in my business. Yay!

Trying to appeal to everyone does not automatically mean you will be inundated with work. Think about it– would you pick a person who dabbles in this, that and the other, or would you choose the business that specialises in what you are looking for?

No money in the world is worth doing something that isn’t true to who you are.

Narrowing your audience will make your life 10 times easier.

How many times have you come across a blog where you feel as though each and every post was written just for you? I know when this happens to me, I don’t want to walk away and I’ll spend the next few hours soaking up as much content as I possibly can. I’ll follow that blog on every social platform and sign up to their newsletter so I don’t miss anything in the future. Equally, I’ve come across individual posts that have really captivated me, only to then find the rest of the content on the website isn’t really as appealing to me, so naturally I don’t stay long.

I would much rather have 100 people adore what I do, sign up to my newsletters, or buy my products than 500 people who stop by every now and then but aren’t really relating to me or purchasing my goods. Aiming your content or product at your target audience means you don’t have to be running around like a headless chicken each day trying to create something for a variety of different people.

You have the power to say no

Seriously, having the power to say no feels so good! I used to break out in a sweat when clients contacted me about their winter weddings, knowing I would have to shoot pretty much in the dark, with a flash. Gah. I’d dread it and spend the entire day wishing I were somewhere else.

Someone once said to me “surely a wedding is a wedding? Don’t you just suck it up for the sake of the money”? Nope, because no money in the world is worth doing something that isn’t true to who you are. Bloggers are often approached by companies who are looking for reviews on their products, but if that product has absolutely no relevance to that particular blog’s content, it probably won’t be featured. Even if the company are offering to pay, if a blogger knows their readers will be like “what is this?”, then it’s just not worth it.

At the end of the day, trying to please everyone will leave you exhausted and unhappy. Your service or product will probably lack passion and as a result, you will end up resenting what you do. Do what you love– if people love it, great and if they don’t? Screw them. Such is life.

*like cake, or how we can only get through the week by drinking copious amounts of alcohol.

Do you think having a niche is the way forward in business? Or do you think it’s possible to appeal to a larger audience? Share your ideas in the comments!